A short ceremony took place at the Montreal Aviation Museum on May 7 to officially open the Peter and Eleanor Finlayson Education and Conference Centre.
Ormstown residents Peter and Eleanor Finlayson were present for the occasion when museum president Dr. Chandra Madramootoo inaugurated the newly renovated southern wing, which now houses the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) aviation and space education program.
The renovations were made possible through the support of the Finlaysons, who donated over $1 million to the museum which is housed in the historic “Old Stone Barn” on McGill University’s Macdonald Campus in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
Madramootoo noted that the southern wing had been barricaded from public access as the roof had caved in and the walls were collapsing. He thanked the Finlaysons for their generous donation which allowed the museum to undertake the necessary renovations.
In a speech during the ceremony, Peter Finlayson explained that “Donating the money is the easy part. Having the vision of an aviation museum and the ability to execute that vision in a timely fashion and within budget is the hard part.” He credited this achievement to the dedicated volunteers who run the museum. (SR)